Palm oil has been and continues to be a major driver of deforestation of some of the worlds most biodiverse forests, destroying the habitat of already endangered species like the Orangutan, pygmy elephant and Sumatran rhino. What is palm oil deforestation?
The process of palm oil deforestation
It is the production of oil, which has been extracted from seeds that are left after the fruit has been eaten by a specific species of fruit bat. The fruit is then carried by the wind or the rain into a plantation, where hundreds of people working under deplorable conditions harvest the oil from the seeds. The process of deforestation is so that we may have what we call ‘palm oil’.
The production of palm oil
Palm oil is extracted from orangutans habitat and is produced for use in everything from food to soap to cosmetics to fuel to lamps and so on. The demand for palm oil is such that forests are being cleared in Central and South America to make way for plantations. This is causing the extinction of some of the rainforests most endangered species like the orangutan, Sumatran rhino, Giant panda and rhino, destroying the habitat of the critically endangered Sumatran elephant and pygmy elephant, and causing the fires that are wiping out orangutans habitat in Sumatra and Kalimantan.
Sumatran rhino on the verge of extinction
The Sumatran rhino was on the verge of extinction prior to the Sumatran rhino fund. The Sumatran rhino has been saved, but only at the cost of the orangutan and rhino. A very small number of rhinos are kept in captivity for tourism in Indonesia and Malaysia. The elephant is still highly endangered.
Difficult to get information
It’s very difficult to get information about the rhino and elephant in wild habitats. However, with a proper international framework of legislation (for example) a rhino in the wild forest of Sumatra can breed with the rhino in the wild forest of South Africa and give birth to fertile rhino calves. That will bring rhinos and elephants back into the wild.
How to do something against palm oil deforestation?
I hope this blog will be a catalyst for someone to do something about this. We need the law to protect the habitats of rhinos and elephants and allow rhinos and elephants to be ‘reborn’. We need to fight against palm oil deforestation. The rhino in the wild forest of Sumatra is under threat. And palm oil deforestation is a big problem. The new rhino habitat law has not yet been implemented. We urgently need the law implemented to save the rhino in the wild forest of Sumatra. It’s time we joined hands and worked together to save the rhino of Sumatra. We need to get our act together and make a difference. Join the debate and be part of making the difference!
